The use of ribbon supplies in card personalization machines is well known. The ribbon supplies include a supply roll and a take-up roll upon which used ribbon material is wound during use of the ribbon supply. FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a current ribbon supply that includes a supply roll 1 where a ribbon material 3 is wound onto a spool 5. A leading portion 7 of the ribbon material 3 is tacked down onto itself at a tack down zone 9 to prevent unwinding of the ribbon material 3 from the supply roll. Prior to or during installation of the ribbon supply, the leading portion 7 of the ribbon material 3 is detached at the tack down zone 9 to form a leader (not shown) that is then attached to or wound around the take-up roll (not shown). However, this causes the bulk, unused ribbon material 3 on the supply roll 1 to be loose during installation of the ribbon supply, possibly allowing the ribbon material 3 to unwind from the supply roll 1 or loosen its winding tension around the supply roll 1. Therefore, additional caution is required by the end user to ensure that the ribbon supply is properly installed or not damaged from unwinding if the supply roll is dropped. In addition, replacement of the ribbon supply of a card personalization machine may be performed by personnel for whom maintenance of the card personalization machine, including ribbon supply replacement, is only an incidental portion of their job, such as a security guard or a desk clerk, and not by personnel who have special training in such equipment. Therefore, the replacement of the ribbon supply should be made to be relatively intuitive and straightforward.